bstempleton (07/11/82)
Tron is a must-see film! All advertising etc. that I saw before going to Tron made me think I was in for a lousy, misguided film. I was pleasingly surprised. Don't be confused about ads that say Tron is an adventure inside the computer and indicate that it is aimed at the general public. This is not the case. Tron is an entertaining fantasy combined with good humour aimed right at the computer literate person. This is perhaps the first major film to have a large part of the humour aimed at a certain, educated segment of the population. Tron is not funny because it has many misconceptions about computers that people can laugh at if they know the real world. The authors of Tron are (at least this is my impression) quite aware of the reality of computing. The jokes and fantasy are deliberately aimed at computer people. I went with a crowd of about 20 computer literate people here in a University town. There were other such people about the theatre as well. It was obvious who they were, because they were the ones laughing at and enjoying the movie, while the others were mostly confused. Non computer literates will still enjoy the fine graphics and video game action sequences, and some might appreciate the simple plot, but a degree in CS adds to a person's enjoyment of this flick. When you see Tron, remember it is a fantasy, and make NO attempt to link what you see to what you know of computers in the real world. I think you'll have a good time.
vax1:dan (07/12/82)
I thoroughly enjoyed Tron. I heard so many bad things about it that I was pleasantly surprised. There is indeed a plot, although it won't win any awards for complexity. It's your basic GOOD VS EVIL, with a few twists thrown in. Those expecting science fiction will be disappointed; Tron could be described as "technological fantasy". If you insist on a realistic view of what it would be like to BE a piece of software, then you will also be disappointed. For me, the imagery was fascinating. The relationships depicted between programs and their programmers (users) are really clever. It is imaginative, original, visually spectacular, and contains lots of action. Go see it, especially if you are familiar with computers. (But don't take a date who will keep tapping your arm and asking for explanations.)